Abstract

Venlafaxine (VFX) is a modern antidepressant from the serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) class. It is a chiral substance used in therapy as a racemate, but differences between the pharmacological properties of the two enantiomers have been reported. The current article presents the development of a simple capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the rapid chiral separation of VFX enantiomers. A complex cyclodextrin (CD) screening at four different pH levels was carried out to establish the optimum chiral selector; carboxymethyl-β-CD (CM-β-CD) at pH 2.5 was selected for further method development. An initial “one factor at time” (OFAT) screening strategy was used to establish the influence of analytical parameters on the separation, followed by a face centered central composite design (FCCD) for the optimization process. The analytical performances of the newly developed method were verified in terms of accuracy, linearity, precision, repeatability, and sensitivity. The method was used for the determination of VFX enantiomer ratio in pharmaceutical forms. Finally, computer modelling of VFX-CD complexes was undertaken to characterize host–guest chiral recognition.
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